Three Quarters of the way through typing my first essay, which was just going to be about music in general, my word-processor program decided it would be fun to crash and lose all of my unsaved information. After the volley of profanity and screaming, I started out on another essay, and while I sit here and listen to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, I think I could write a more complete and on-topic paper about this one particular band that I like, instead of trying to outline all the different music types I have been into over the past couple of years. Pink Floyd in my opinion is one of the most influential rock groups to date; their lyrics are so profound and touch not only the heart, but the soul.



Pink Floyd is a complex machine and I don't understand how they can come up with such good lyrics and music in general. You would think that a couple of guys sitting around tripping on LSD would be too fried to come up with anything worth listening to, but that's not the case. I feel that the power of their music was influenced by their drug use. I think that all those psychedelics helped them to see something that maybe everyone else couldn't, not literally, but I think that they were able to see how insignificant the human race is in the grand scheme of things. Their lyrics deal with life in general, and how one day you just realize that you haven't done anything significant in your life. It makes you want to change; it makes you want to do something with yourself, instead of just wasting away into oblivion.

Another subject they often dealt with is politics. They talk about not just the government, but something much larger, its like all ruling forces as a whole, ?The System?, or ?The Machine?. Perhaps one of the most famous Pink Floyd albums is The Wall; ?all in all you're just another brick in the wall? is a line from the song ?The Wall?. It means that everyone is part of a larger whole, and that you are part of something, no matter how insignificant a piece you may be. Listening to their music makes you think about life in general, it makes you ponder the big question, and ask what its all about, what we are doing here. When I listen to Pink Floyd, its usually when I'm tired of the every day crap, and I want to clear my head. I'll just sit there and listen to the lyrics and think about them, and usually if I'm feeling down it makes me feel a lot better knowing that someone knows what's going on in this crazy world of ours.

Dark Side Of The Moon, another well-known album has sold well over 26 million copies, and has been on the Billboard music charts for a record 1328 consecutive weeks. So, for the last 25 years, people have continued to buy this record, one of their best in my opinion. It's no secret that Pink Floyd is something magical and unique. I read somewhere that one in four Americans owns a copy of Dark Side of the Moon. Many people have heard of the ?Dark Side of OZ? phenomenon, where if the Wizard of Oz is viewed with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as a soundtrack, the movie cues up perfectly with the album, the scenes perfectly line up with the different tracks, and the lyrics correspond with the actors actions in the film, it's almost surreal. This is another testament to the genius of Pink Floyd, they are truly very talented musicians and have influenced and inspired many people.

So, in conclusion, I think that Pink Floyd is a rare group of men who explored their worlds and saw society and humanity for what it was. They were just trying to figure everything out, find out what life's purpose was, and they did that through musical expression. They have helped me to see the world differently, and accept the fact that I am ?just another brick in the wall?, but that's ok because I know that everyone else is too. I'm no different than anyone else, on a grand scale we are all the same, just trying to get out alive. Pink Floyd's music will live on long after they are gone, and will continue to inspire people to not only make new art and music, but also to get up and do something with themselves.